The Simple Difference Between a Farm and a Garden
Gardening has always been a part of American family life, with tens of millions of homes across the country having gardening. This has received an extra boost during lockdown in the pandemic era , which is only natural as more people explore the possibility of a small backyard, rooftop or community garden. And with rising food prices, more and more people are beginning to contemplate unused open areas on their territory, dreaming of inexpensive vegetables .
If you have a major garden job that has gone far beyond just a hobby, you might be surprised when someone crosses the line between “gardener” and “farmer”. If you feed yourself, are you a farmer? Do you need acres of land or is a rooftop container suitable? Do all farms have livestock and heavy equipment such as tractors?
The answer is not obvious – there is a lot of disagreement about the difference between a farm and a garden. But, unsurprisingly in a capitalist society, the answer lies in money.
farm to table
The definitions of “farm” and “garden” complicate the urban farm boom we’re experiencing, thanks in part to restaurants and hotels growing their own produce on site (or very close), allowing them to source their vegetables and other ingredients directly. If you think of a garden as a hobby place where pensioners or housewives quietly weed and tear up the ground, and a farm as a vast property where industrious people toil to feed the country, where on the scale do these kinds of plant growing fit?
According to the federal government, the container gardens used by such businesses could, in fact, qualify as farms. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) does not define a farm by the area of land, by what it grows, or by the number of people who work on it. He defines it by income: “A farm is defined as any place where agricultural produce worth $1,000 or more has been produced and sold, or would normally have been sold within a year.” So even if you’re having a bad year, if you usually make at least $1,000 from what you produce, you’re a farmer. Similarly, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) defines your business as a farm if you “cultivate, operate, or manage” a space for profit, meaning you make money by selling what you grow or grow on the property. However, the IRS states that if a farm is not your main income, then it is a “hobby farm” and thus, legally, a farm is not a farm for tax purposes.
food for sale
The common link here is the production of food for sale. These definitions make a few things clear: it doesn’t matter if it’s a backyard or a rooftop piece of land, and the amount of what you grow or cultivate doesn’t matter either: only the amount of income you bring in. Notably, you don’t actually need to make a profit to be considered a farm. If you sell your goods “for profit” (which is the goal, not the result) and make at least $1,000, you are running the farm in the eyes of the government, even if you are actually losing money in the operation.
It all comes down to how you use the products you produce: if it is primarily for personal use, that is, to feed yourself and your family, or just as a hobby, then this is a garden, even if it is huge. If you sell a significant portion of your produce for money, then you are running a farm, even if it is a tiny one.